^{Listening to Ice (preview clip) dir. Susan Schuppli, 4K feature film, colour with Dolby 5.1 or stereo sound, 2023, 1:10:37 mins.}

Listening to Ice documents the activities of a small team of researchers from India and the UK who made their way to Drang Drung Glacier in the Zanskar Range of the northeastern Himalayas in 2021 to study the impacts of climate change.

Through fieldwork to measure the mass balance changes of the glacier, sonic instrumentation to listen to the internal dynamics of melting ice, and situated "listening" workshops with local villagers, they set out to monitor and record the materials transformations of this receding glacier as well as engage with affected communities.

These activities also brought them to the mountain villages of Akshow and Kulum in Ladakh. In Akshow, villagers have developed inter-generational practices of caring for glacial streams and sharing water resources, whereas Kulum is the first Himalayan village to have experienced forced climate migration due to glacial recession and water scarcity and has been one of the sites where the Ice Stupa project to grow artificial glaciers has been active.

Bringing scientific research and local knowledge together, their aim was to generate new insights into our current ecological condition.

RESEARCH TEAM

Dr. Mohd. Farooq Azam, India
Dr. Susan Schuppli, UK
Faiza Ahmad Khan, India

Jigmet Singge, Local Futures, Leh
Kunzang Deachen, Local Futures, Leh
Smriti Srivastava, PhD Student IIT Indore
Mohd. Arif Hussain, PhD Student IIT Indore
Mohd. Jawad, Sankoo Kargil
Bhim Bahadur Adhikari, Nepal

INTERVIEWS

Tsering Norboo, Rangdum Village
Lobzang Dorjey, Farmer, Akshow Village
Nishant Tiku, Ice Stupa Project Coordinator, Phyang, Leh
Morup Namgyal, Song Collector, Leh
Tashi Morup, Director, Ladakh Arts & Media Organisaton
Tsewang Namgail, Director, Snow Leopard Conservancy, India Trust, Leh

SPECIAL THANKS

Professor Grant Deane, SCRIPPS Insitution of Oceanography, UCSD
Dr. Oskar Glawocki, Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences